New Video: Regina Spektor, ‘How’

Leave it to Regina Spektor to rock a violin f-hole as eye makeup. That’s how the chic singer opens her video for “How,” a piano ballad with a lot of feelings and serious, straightforward lines like “How can I forget your love?/ How can I never see you again?” But Spektor’s quirks shine through in the visuals, as she sings amid a combination of live action and animation. She even puts a bird on it — somebody’s been watching Portlandia. (Spoiler: It’s us!)

Watch Regina Spektor’s “How” video after the jump.

Though the song’s style is spare and simple, Spektor goes full “Black Swan” in one ruffly outfit and rocks butterfly wings in another. Margo Weathers, who knows a thing or two about fashion after helming colorful videos for Neiman Marcus, directed the video — and probably brought her entire closet to the set. For all the fluttery imagery, it’s Spektor’s voice that soars as she belts the passionate bridge: “I just want my memories to remain.”

The somber track is the latest from the musician’s What We Saw From the Cheap Seats, released on Sire Records in May. She’ll be flying through a few more U.S. dates, including one at New York’s Beacon Theatre, before wrapping up the year in Australia. And let this be a lesson to you all: everything’s better when you put a bird on it.